Browsing by Author "Dlamini, Siphiwe"

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    A holistic investigation into healthcare service quality using a multi-stakeholder approach: The case of Parirenyatwa Hospital
    (2023) Mubayiwa, Frank; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    Service quality is a matter of concern for everyone. As such, understanding the differences in perceptions about service quality provision becomes pertinent, especially under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the questions at stake is whether patients' perceptions should be given equal weight with those of healthcare practitioners, given that patients may not be able to comprehend the technical aspects of healthcare service quality. This study explored the perspectives of both parties in healthcare service delivery, in a multispecialty hospital setting of the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. A cross-sectional research design, encompassing the collection of quantitative data using a questionnaire, was used. Convenience sampling was used to select participants to complete the online questionnaire. The respondents (patients and healthcare practitioners) received a pop-up message prompting them to click and complete the online questionnaire on Qualtrics. The results show that the perspectives of healthcare practitioners and patients differed on four of the five dimensions of the HEALTHQUAL scale, namely, efficiency of healthcare service, improvement of care service, tangible evidence, and safety. The improvement of care and efficiency of healthcare service dimensions both had a large effect size, whilst the tangible and safety dimensions both had a medium effect size. This study was a novel attempt to simultaneously assess healthcare service quality from the perspectives of both patients and healthcare practitioners who are directly involved in the treatment of patients. The research, therefore, provided a holistic view of healthcare service quality in a particular context.
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    Open Access
    Investigating factors that influence the purchase behaviour of green cosmetic products amongst female consumers in South Africa
    (2021) Mahowa, Vimbai; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    Current generations have come to realise that their consumption of harmful products is what has contributed in the degradation of the environment. In an attempt to alleviate the environmental problems consumers have embraced the green purchasing behaviour. This notwithstanding, there has been an increase in the number of people that are eager to purchase green products, and there remains insufficient data that supports that the procurement of green products has increased, despite the environmental consciousness and the positive attitudes that consumers have towards green products. In the 21st century, female consumers are increasingly taking part in the economy. Particularly in the cosmetic industry, females have been identified to possess the largest purchasing power when compared to that of male consumers, but remains under-researched. The proposed study focused on addressing the impact of awareness, product information, product availability, environmental concern, perceived barriers, perceived price, and attitude on the purchasing intention of green cosmetic products amongst female consumers in South Africa to make green purchase decisions. The sample size for this research was 295 participants. The results revealed that only perceived price and attitude have a significant influence on purchase intention of green cosmetic products amongst females in South Africa. While awareness, product information, product availability, environmental concern and perceived barriers needed a mediating variable (attitude) to have an influence on the purchasing intention of green cosmetic products of female consumers in South Africa. This research study aid to the green literature since South Africa is in the green awakening stage. The research study also expanded on the Alphabet theory by introducing additional elements to framework, namely, product availability and perceived priced. The study offers useful insight for the managers and marketers who are venturing into the green cosmetic industry. Future research studies should focus on qualitative research that focus on specific green cosmetic category such as skin care, haircare and make up so as to gain an in-depth insight on the purchasing intention of the female consumers of the specific categories.
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    Investigating the factors that drive social commerce purchase intention amongst the millennials in South Africa
    (2025) Kiza, Melikhaya; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    Social media has become fundamental to companies, as well as consumers. Its existence has produced new opportunities and introduced options like ‘social commerce' whereby consumers and firms can sell goods and services on social media platforms. Due to the evolution of marketing from 1.0 to 4.0, there has been limited research about marketing 4.0 within social commerce. The current study aimed to assess marketing 4.0 dimensions and social commerce characteristics that have been under-studied - particularly how they affect millennial's purchase intentions in social commerce. A sample of 261 millennials was received from two different provinces Western Cape and Gauteng. The findings revealed that platform reputation, reviews, ratings, and product differentiation enhance trust and price. Moreover, trust shows no influence on purchase intention – and nor did brand image, brand integrity and brand identity. Findings from this study indicate that product differentiation, reviews and ratings, and platform reputation are the underlying reasons for trust and brand image are drivers of social commerce purchase intention. Thus, managers need to listen to consumers and produce individualised products to ensure unique and well differentiated offerings. Marketing practitioners should rather focus on using reputable social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as key social commerce platforms for the purchase of products. Furthermore, as reviews and ratings are important for millennials, marketers should provide a good response to negative feedback. Lastly, managers in online communities should provide an excellent customer service as that will enhance customer service and lead to purchase intention.
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    Reimagining loyalty rewards programmes via blockchain: usage, loyalty, and firm performance
    (2025) Hendricks, Matthew; Meyer, Ines; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    The emergence of blockchain technology is poised to revolutionise the loyalty programme (LP) landscape. Still, there is a dearth of research exploring the factors that influence the acceptance and resultant loyalty creation of blockchain-based LPs. This study examines the relationship between technological acceptance, loyalty creation, redemption and word-of-mouth yielded by a blockchain-based loyalty programme (BBLP). Employing the Diffusion of Innovation Theory and the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM), the study investigates the intention to use a BBLP as influenced by the perceived ease of use and usefulness of a BBLP. An integrated model combining the theories of Watson et al. (2015), Davis (1985) and Rogers (1995) was analysed in three separate but interrelated, descriptive, cross-sectional survey studies. In Study One (N = 995), the factors which influence the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and ultimate intention to utilise a BBLP were examined. Study Two (N= 756) focused on the factors which contribute to the development of behavioural and attitudinal loyalty towards a BBLP, and the relationship that the intention to use a BBLP has with behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. Lastly, Study Three (N = 1157) focused on the relationship between the intention to use a BBPL and attitudinal and behavioural loyalty, as well as the relationship that behavioural and attitudinal loyalty has with word-of-mouth (WoM) and redemption. Redemption is typically neglected in the literature as a specific outcome, with only a handful of studies examining it as a specific variable. The perceived value of cryptocurrency, trust in blockchain and cryptocurrency, are emerging antecedents that are focused upon. This study is one of few that the perceived value of cryptocurrency is examined as an LP reward, which influences both PEOU and PU. The data was analysed using PLS-SEM and the software SmartPLS 4. The intention to use a BBLP and both behavioural and attitudinal loyalty were found to influence each other and enhance WoM. Attitudinal loyalty influenced redemption, though no significant link was found between behavioural loyalty and redemption. Managers should carefully consider their incentive strategies for a BBLP by incorporating relative advantage, satisfaction, trust, and commitment to drive loyalty.
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    The effect of mobile marketing on the purchase of staple products: a case of bottom of the pyramid consumers in Khayelitsha
    (2019) Mvula, Wandile; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    The growth of mobile penetration in Africa has seen a rise in marketers seeking new ways of using mobile marketing to improve their business and develop sustainable marketing strategies. An empirical study on BOP consumers living in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, comprising a survey of a sample of 385 respondents, was conducted. The measurement items were assessed through six hypotheses using Structural Equation Modelling with Smart PLS 3 software. The results confirm that there is a significant relationship between social influence and trust, price sensitivity and purchase intention, service quality and trust and lastly, between service quality and satisfaction. The relationship between trust and purchase intention and the relationship between satisfaction and purchase intention are not significant. The relationship between service quality and satisfaction showed the strongest significance amongst the hypotheses, whereas the weakest relationship showing the least significance effect amongst the hypotheses is between satisfaction and purchase intention. Implications of the study suggest that managers should consider the BOP consumer differently when marketing to them as they have different consumer behaviours to other market segments. For future research, more research should be done on the BOP with regard to their adaptions to mobile marketing as this will help marketers to find better marketing strategies for their businesses to better serve this market segment. Recommendations and limitations on mobile marketing adoption within BOP are discussed.
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    The impact of brand equity on consumer buying behaviour among bottom of the pyramid consumers in South Africa: A case study of Parmalat yoghurt
    (2019) Hlela, Sinegugu; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    There has been significant research done on the impact of branding on consumer buying behaviour over the years, however, consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) have been ignored and very little research has been done in the South African market. This study examines the impact of brand equity on purchase intention of Parmalat yoghurt in the South African BoP market using socio-economic status, price sensitivity and sales promotion as mediating variables. Data was collected from 289 South African BoP consumers residing in Soweto. The study tested six hypotheses using PLS- SEM. Data was analysed using SmartPLS software. The results show that of the six hypotheses tested, only three are supported, namely, the relationship between brand equity and socio-economic status, socio-economic status and purchase intention and price sensitivity and purchase intention. Socio-economic status as a mediator has the most significant impact on the relationship between brand equity and purchase intention. The findings of this study give some implications for managers and marketers of yoghurt brands. Brand equity influences on purchase intention of yoghurt products and socio-economic status has the strongest mediating influence suggesting that companies must build and maintain strong brand equity in order to create a positive influence on purchase intention for their brands. Managers need to understand the underlying reasons as to why consumers would choose a competitor’s brand. Based on this study, socio-economic status and price sensitivity are the two most influencing mediators in the purchase intention of yoghurt, thus it is imperative for managers to take this into consideration when devising and implementing branding strategies.
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    The impact of branding on support intentions towards supported social enterprises: The case of The Big Issue South Africa
    (2020) Simons, Aaqib; Dlamini, Siphiwe
    A rising problem for social enterprises within South Africa is that consumers tend to display mixed interests towards their marketing campaigns. The technological revolution has allowed consumers to become more adept and ethically sensitised at identifying deceptive marketing ploys. In light of the growing competition among many SSEs in attaining donations, managers of these organisations have realised the value in managing their organisations as brands. However, SSEs should remain aware of distinguishing their marketing from corporate brands. Past literature revealed that organisations which behave socially responsibly elicit more positive attitudes from consumers. Thus, SSEs adopting socially responsible marketing could allow them to be perceived as devoted towards their social missions, which could attract more volunteering and monetary donations. The study investigated the impact of branding on support intentions towards supported social enterprises: the case of The Big Issue South Africa. A descriptive research design was adopted. This included an online survey method that was used to acquire quantitative data from 200 participants in Cape Town, which was required to interpret conclusive findings to this investigation. The findings of the study were that consumer-brand relational authenticity (CBRA), brand trust, and customer-brand identification (CBI)] had a direct positive influence on support intentions. Attitude toward helping others (ATHO) was determined as a negative moderator between the relationship of CBI and support intentions. Alternatively, altruistic values were determined to not possess any moderating influence on the relationship between brand trust and support intentions. The findings therefore fill theoretical gaps on CBRA, brand trust and altruistic values that remained unexplored in the past. The study produced a conceptual framework explaining the branding factors that have the most significant impact in driving support intentions. This framework can be beneficial to managers of SSEs with regard to leveraging support from a local and international standpoint. However, marketers in the corporate field who are designated to attracting corporate social investment (CSI) can also draw on insights from the study in order to attract support for these CSI initiatives. The study is thus beneficial to corporate organisations as well.